MattGlover.com

Those that have been in my church for long enough will know what I think of debt. It’s an insidious evil that somehow we’ve let go unaddressed for too long is our discipleship.

Sadly things don’t seem to getting much better either. This article in today’s paper is the stuff of financial nightmares for many, and seems to indicate that it is not only the ‘poor’ that have credit woes, but now the ‘middle class’ as well.

I found this paragragh particulalry distrubing:

“Another client was on an income of more than $100,000, was paying $3000-$4000 a month in payments on three different cards and had no money left to pay other bills.”

Why somebody on that sort of income would need a credit card for in the first place is difficult to understand.

Now, I realise that the personal situation of many contains things that cannot be avoided. Ill health, unemployment, victims of bad bosses and so on can land folk with credit problems that are out of their control. And mortages are one form of debt we can’t avoid should we wish to buy a house. But the article states that after unemployment, poor use of credit (read credit cards) is the next biggest reason for rising debt levels. Staggering.

Perhaps it is a symptom of a consumerist society. We ‘must’ have the latest and greatest right here, right now. Put it on the plastic and work out how to pay it off later. Perhaps we simply just don’t know how to responsibly manage money. For Christian people, perhaps we don’t see the use of our money as part of discipleship.

All of these things must change.

My parents drilled into me a fairly basic concept - if you want to buy something, save up for it. To this day, that’s what I do, and get by with a well managed budget and a credit card that barely gets used. I’ve never paid a cent in credit card interest. I don’t intend to either. And I’m on nowhere near $100K a year!

I regulalry come across young people half my age with large debts. The banks are now telling them how to spend their money as they try to pay the spiralling interest payments. They enter into relationships and marriage with thousands of dollars of debt, putting them behind right from the start and putting things like cars and houses beyond reach. Never have they given any thought to how they will pay for the education of any children that come along if they can’t get rid of their debt.

If you’re a young person reading this (and even if you’re not) avoid debt as much as you can. If you want to buy something, but have to use a credit card to get it, admit that you can’t afford it and walk away. Use the money you have for the essentials - food, clothes, shelter - and save the rest. Sure, use some for entertainment and the like, but remember that the fun from a movie and dinner passes quickly. The pain from high debt levels lasts for years.

Debt makes people slaves. This is why I think debt is evil. This is why I’ll continue to encourage, as part of true discipleship, the importance of avoiding debt at all cost and managing money wisely. I hope others are doing the same, for I shudder to think what the nature of youth ministry will be like in the future if we can’t reverse this trend now.